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Hello everyone,
I checked out Sharp's page on the wiki, and I have read some threads about Sharp,
and I came up with this:
I tried to combine different features from the concept art, but I came up with four
versions of Sharp, each with slight variations. I have all four versions in PNG and
SVG format inside this zip archive:
Download sharp-concept4.zip
One thing bothers me: the staff. I couldn't settle on a specific design to put on the staff.
So feel free to critique the art, suggest staff modifications, or edit the SVG
yourself.
Last edited by svgmovement (2011-12-16 17:55:11)
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One word: WHOA! That is the most amazing character sketches I've seen so far. Good work!
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Thanks, jobromedia.
I tried to match the Open Surge art style somewhat, while
incorporating the important features of Sharp. I feel as
though I left some things out though, so feel free to offer
suggestions.
When I work with SVG, I think of each image as a text that
needs revision and proofreading, and I'm sure this image
could be revised in some way.
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Well you should lower the white colors to a more grey nuance. Right now the white spots is way too... sharp!
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Hello again,
I lowered the white spots to different hues of grey.
I also greyed out the staff to how I had it in other versions. I was wondering
if the eyes are the right color since the violet matches Gimacian
the Dark's robe a little.
What do you think?
EDIT: What if, instead of walking with a magical staff, Sharp walked with
a dead branch -type staff. The staff would be a very dull brown, and
cracks would have formed at the ends. Comments?
Last edited by svgmovement (2011-11-29 05:59:18)
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I agree with jobro: good job, svgmovement!
I love his eyes. They are weird enough, and the color definitely gives him an evil aura without, at the same time, being too much revealing about who he is.
The sketch is also very good overall - you seemed to combine physical and psychological traits in a coherent manner; I just wonder if there's some way (I have no idea about how to do this, though) to change the spikes at the back of his head, so he doesn`t look too much like Sonic?
Other than that, I hope that you continue to work on the character, as this is becoming very good.
ps: regarding the staff, please remember that Sharp is the guardian of the Dimensional Gate. What would the cracks at the ends mean? Is there some kind of hidden power behind that dead branch on his hands?
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Hello, Alexandre,
Thanks for the suggestions and comments.
As for the spikes: I could go with AP's sketch and try to point the
upper spikes more upward and forward, while leaving the lower
spikes alone.
As for the staff: the staff seems too plain as it is, and I have no clue
what attributes would add "guardian" appeal to the staff. Maybe I
should replace the branch with a wooden rod, and work
with that? I need ideas, . . . or knowledge that the staff is fine as it is.
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...Maybe I took the wrong approach to this....
. . .
EDIT: Just figured out what's wrong; never mind the above image.
Hello everyone,
This is my latest attempt at Sharp, considering Alexandre's advice.
Maybe the quills are still too long, but I value everyone's input
much more than my own opinion on this. Let me know what
you think.
Last edited by svgmovement (2011-12-02 06:49:37)
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Now, this is much better.
Regarding the staff, we could put a skull on top of it. Just an idea. What do you think?
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A skull would be nice. Why not with crystals embedded in it? Where else should he get his powers from?
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Hello, everyone,
Thanks for the ideas! It's a lot better than what I could have
come up with alone.
Would the crystals be embedded in the skull,
or in the staff? Again, let me know what other
ideas you come up with.
Either case, I'll work on it as soon as possible.
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Put the crystals where the eyes should be normally. To display his bipolarity each of the two crystals should be differently colored. One for instance deep crimson red and the other brightly lime green in color. Each crystal is used to give him his special powers. See if you could make the skull somewhat similar to the one in the ending of Doom 1 at 1:25.
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I think the skull is going a bit overboard. Just use a crystal or something, imo. Then Sharp would be too obviously evil. Subtle details hinting at an evil background is better than something more obvious, like skulls.
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I have a staff modification.
Comments?
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I think it's better.
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Looks great, svgmovement.
I think this could be Sharp. Any complains?
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well, it's on the wiki!
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Nice drawing. Their face expression is the best.
You will do the logo and the other characters?
If it's usefull for you here are some svg (not of the quality you do but is something)
http://opensnc.sourceforge.net/forum/vi … hp?id=1019
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Hello everyone,
I'm glad everyone likes the artwork I did for Sharp.
Now Sharp can be taken out of "High Priority".
The other characters are listed under "Completed Tasks,"
so I don't want to start work on SVG versions of the characters
unless I know I can devote enough time to completing them.
Thanks for accepting my work.
EDIT: If anyone wants to make changes to the graphics on
the vector level, Here is the SVG documents with all of the
paths used: Download sharp-concept4+20111214.zip.
Last edited by svgmovement (2012-01-18 03:14:26)
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Thanks, svgmovement. All the main characters of Open Surge have their concepts done.
If you still would like to work on art for Open Surge, please let us know. Although the main characters are done, in terms of concept art, one can still work on concepts for levels and enemies.
We worked on the sprites of Sunshine Paradise having no concepts whatsoever (well... just this ugly thing made by... me ). Since we had no decent concepts, making the bricks and the background for the level was a matter of trial and error. A lot of material got discarded, making the whole process inefficient, and, although they are nice too, we ended up having graphics that aren't quite exactly what was originally envisioned. Maybe with a better concept we would be able to share ideas better with the community. That way, less material would be discarded, we would be more efficient and everyone would have a better sense of direction, rather than just having "my opinion". Having decent, colored concepts for the levels is something that Open Surge needs. I can't communicate the graphic goals of a level as efficiently as an artist can.
Fortunately, we got a decent storyboard for an introductory cutscene of Sunshine Paradise. Don't know if you have watched that cutscene already, but thanks to Race's planning (the storyboard was made by him), our work got a lot better IMO. If the levels could be better planned (starting from the concepts, moving to the sprite making and finally to level building), I believe we could deliver a much better piece of work to the open source community. Not only that: we could do it much faster than we are doing right now.
Please let us know if you're interested. Thank you.
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Hello, Alexandre,
I understand how important concept art can be to level development,
especially when each level is a community effort. A unified collection
of ideas is more useful than second-guessing how the next designer
envisions the level.
I am interested in making level concept art. I often see pictures
online or real-life everyday scenes that would work well as game
levels. However, I can't guarantee each concept will be in SVG.
(SVG is what I do, but good rendering for each concept
can take weeks! ) However, I am ready to start.
Just one question: should I draw out Sunshine Paradise, or skip ahead
and work on Waterwork?
Glad I can help.
Last edited by svgmovement (2012-01-20 01:20:14)
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Hello, Alexandre,
I understand how important concept art can be to level development,
especially when each level is a community effort. A unified collection
of ideas is more useful than second-guessing how the next designer
envisions the level.I am interested in making level concept art. I often see pictures
online or real-life everyday scenes that would work well as game
levels. However, I can't guarantee each concept will be in SVG.
(SVG is what I do, but good rendering for each concept
can take weeks! ) However, I am ready to start.Just one question: should I draw out Sunshine Paradise, or skip ahead
and work on Waterwork?Glad I can help.
Let's start out on Sunshine Paradise. Since we already have the sprites for that level, we'd end up doing things on reverse order (ideally, concepts should come first). Still, we need everything to be properly documented, and the concepts are an important part of this.
There is a playable skecth of Sunshine Paradise on Dropbox (which hosts a community build of the game) - you might want to see it before working out a concept. I have sent an invitation to the e-mail written in your profile.
Please let us know if you have any questions or problems.
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EDIT: I got the invitation. Thanks.
Hello, Alexandre,
I have a problem.
I didn't receive an invitation to the Dropbox in my e-mail.
It may be because I created my Dropbox account this
morning. I apologize if that disrupted the invitation.
Last edited by svgmovement (2012-01-23 00:12:11)
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EDIT: I got the invitation. Thanks.
Hello, Alexandre,
I have a problem.
I didn't receive an invitation to the Dropbox in my e-mail.
It may be because I created my Dropbox account this
morning. I apologize if that disrupted the invitation.
Hi, svgmovement
I have just sent a new invitation to svgmovement at hotmail. Have you received it? If not, I can submit it to some other e-mail address, at your preference.
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